Three people have been charged with stealing trade secrets from Coca-Cola and trying to sell it to rival PepsiCo.
Federal prosecutors in Atlanta say that the three, who include an executive administrative assistant at Coca-Cola, sought to sell the information in deals worth USD 1.5 M.
Coca-Cola learnt of the theft from Pepsi, which provided the company with a letter from an individual claiming to be a high-level Coca-Cola employee offering "very detailed and confidential information". Then Coca-Cola alerted the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which launched an undercover operation, leading to the arrests Thursday.
Coca-Cola thanked Pepsi for its assistance and Ben Deutsch, spokesman, confirmed the formula for trademark Coca-Cola was not stolen in the theft.